Deadly denial: Nuclear weapons workers who risked their safety in the Cold War now must fight for compensation

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ABOUT THE SERIES

Tens of thousands of America's former nuclear bomb builders are sick, dying or already dead because of their exposure to radiation and other poisons. You knew that.

After decades of stonewalling, the government started a compensation program in 2000. You knew that.

After four years of bungling, Congress reformed the program, demanding that it be "compassionate, fair and timely." Perhaps you knew that.

But what you may not know is that today only one in four claimants has been compensated and millions more of your taxpayer dollars have been wasted creating hurdles instead of help.

For many of the nation's cold warriors, the government's game is deadly denial.

DAY 1

Charlie Wolf lays on a hospital bed, as he gets a fiber-glass mask molded to his face. The grid mask will contain the markers which will precisely target the areas of his brain which contain his tumors, with radiation.

This 49 year-old former Occupational safety engineer worked at Rocky Flats for many years. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2002, and beat the odds by surviving six years when he was only given 6 months to live. His brain tumors went into remission early in December of 2007. He was getting ready to move on with his life, at the same time while fighting the Department of Labor for full compensation for his illness, which he and several other medical, legal and scientific experts attributed to his line of work. He went for a final MRI three months ago, and it revealed the worst of his fears. He developed two new tumors at a different part of his brain, an area too big to operate with gamma knife. He is now undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, and is preparing to beat the odds once again.

Deadly denial: Government fails to help sick nuclear workers

Tens of thousands of nuclear arms workers have applied for government compensation. But most have never seen a dime.

The 12-kiloton nuclear bomb Boltzmann is detonated in 1957 in Nevada. Aid for ill nuclear arms workers this year is expected to be $1 billion, less than the $1.4 billion spent annually to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

Compensation plan forged within cauldron of politics

The inside story of how the compensation program for sick weapons workers came to be explains why it was once called a "strange beast" with "weird appendages."

Ben Ortiz, a former Los Alamos engineer, lays on a hospital bed as he waits to have a non-cancerous procedure done on his enlarged prostate.

Ben Ortiz was warned that steps to help his case will backfire

Former Los Alamos worker Ben Ortiz was one of the first workers to speak publicly about the ill workers’ plight. But he is still waiting for aid. Government officials told him every time his Senator or Congressman inquires on his behalf about the delay, it only delays his case even more.

Janine Anderson sits on her couch as she talks to a reporter after a video interview, and shows how her liver has grown to overtake all the space in her lower abdomen. Her liver, which has grown exponentially for the past 3 years, is now pushing up to her heart and lungs and has deformed her spinal cord, forcing her to use a wheelchair when traveling for extended distances.

With a 25-pound liver, Janine Anderson was told she isn't too sick

Janine Anderson spent seven years as a secretary at the Oak Ridge nuclear reservation, one of the nation's premier nuclear weapons development and production complexes.

DOCUMENT: Letter linking Janine Anderson's denial to her advocacy

George Barrie looks out the window of his double-semi trailer home in Craig Colorado.

George Barrie is dying. His wife's advocacy work may have become a weapon against him

The pain drives George Barrie from his bed about 3 a.m. — a nightly occurrence. He leaves his sleeping wife and stumbles to his recliner in the living room. He sits down heavily, shifting his weight, trying to make the pain bearable.

DAY 2

Charlie Wolf, a former manager at Rocky Flats, takes one of the injections used to treat his brain tumors. In his battle for compensation, he has had to enlist the aid of a lawyer, a scientist, a doctor, his Congressman and his insurance company.

Deadly denial: Shifting rules drowning sick nuclear workers

Denny Daily worked for 14 years at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. When Daily was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he suspected his old job had put him at risk.

Charlie Wolf, a 49 year-old former Occupational safety engineer worked at Rocky Flats for many years. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2002, and beat the odds by surviving six years when he was only given 6 months to live. His brain tumors went into remission early in December of 2007. He was getting ready to move on with his life, at the same time while fighting the Department of Labor for full compensation for his illness, which he and several other medical, legal and scientific experts attributed to his line of work. He went for a final MRI three months ago, and it revealed the worst of his fears. He developed two new tumors at a different part of his brain, an area too big to operate with gamma knife. He is now undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, and is preparing to beat the odds once again.

Feds apparently disregarded toxic links to illnesses

The U.S. Department of Labor says it can find "no known" link between toxic exposure and at least 77 medical conditions. Sick workers have come to call this the "no pay" list. But the Rocky Mountain News found that at least seven of those listed diseases actually have "good" or "strong" evidence linking them to toxic substances.

Dee Hasenkamp holds a photo of herself and her late husband, Gerald, a former Rocky Flats radiation technician, at her home in Longmont.

Dee Hasenkamp's husband died; she was told to figure out why on her own

Gerald Hasenkamp was in excruciating pain. Cancer had invaded his colon, his mouth, his lungs and finally his bones. When his wife, Dee, tried to prop him up in bed, his collarbone snapped. When a nurse tried to take a blood sample, his arm broke.

DOCUMENT: Letter telling Dee Hasenkamp to find her own evidence

Charlie Wolf, who has been diagnosed with aggressive glioma brain cancer and myelodysplastic syndrome, undergoes radiation treatment for his tumors at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.

Charlie Wolf should be dead, but six years later, he's still fighting for aid

Charlie Wolf says he has beaten the odds twice. First by surviving six years with brain cancer that was supposed to have killed him in six months. Second, by living to see a check from the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

Wayne Knox, a nuclear engineer and health physicist, says the lack of independent verification for the scientific processes used by the compensation program leaves claimants at the mercy of the government.

Final decisions on aid veiled in secrecy

Criminals have the right to know what evidence is used against them, but sick nuclear weapons workers do not.

DOCUMENT: Request for secret reports denied

DAY 3

George Blue Horse, a medicine man, performs a ceremony to improve relations between the Navajo people and the U.S. Department of Labor, at the Tuba City, Ariz., branch of the Office of Navajo Uranium Workers.

Deadly denial: Navajo miners stand ground in a different kind of Cold War

The U.S. government knew early on that uranium could cause lung damage. But instead of warning the Navajo miners, it decided to study what happened to them.

As workers await relief, program doles out big bonuses to its own

Executives at the U.S. Department of Labor are apparently happy with the operation of the program to compensate sick nuclear weapons workers. More than $3.2 million in bonuses has been paid to those administering the program since it started in 2001.

DOCUMENT: Bonuses for compensation program officials at DOL

Ross Williams is too weak for the tests he needs to receive compensation

To prove he is sick enough to deserve the federal compensation promised to former uranium miners such as himself, 86-year-old Ross Williams must take a lung-function test. The problem is, Williams and some others like him are too sick to complete the required test.

Sen. Ken Salazar speaks about Colorado's renewable energy in the 3rd Annual Energy Summit at the PPA Events Center in Denver Friday, March 28, 2008.

Condemnation from lawmakers

Lawmakers with ties to nuclear weapons work blast the way the program has been run.

E. Levi Samora Jr., shown on his Weld County land, was a 24-year Rocky Flats worker granted compensation after a five year fight.

Levi Samora got a stack of rejection letters — one on the day he received aid

For five years, former Rocky Flats worker E. Levi Samora Jr. was denied compensation meant for sick nuclear weapons workers, even though he had a diagnosis of a bomb-related illness from Rocky Flats doctors.

DOCUMENT: NIOSH response to Rocky investigation

SINCE THE SERIES

Follow developments since The Rocky's report was published.

MAPS AND GRAPHICS

U.S. Department of Labor has failed to help compensate assist former nuclear workers with health safety issues problems ailments graphic chart document video testimony

Graphics show how the federal compensation plan works, who is covered by it, where the major nuclear facilities in the U.S. are, and how radiation exposure is linked to cancer.

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DAY 1:

Page 1, 2-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-9, 10-11, 12

DAY 2:

Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-7, 8

DAY 3:

Page 1, 2, 3, 4-5, 6-7, 8

CONTACT THE TEAM

Reporter: Laura Frank
Photographer: Javier Manzano
Video: Javier Manzano
Print designer: Steve Miller
Graphics artist: Michael Hall
Web producer: Duncan Taylor
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Photo editor: Dean Krakel
Project editor: Jim Trotter

Deadly Denial